Processing of Chromatic Information in the Peripheral Retina

人类视网膜上有两种类型的光探测器：视杆细胞和视锥细胞。视锥细胞在白天表现最好，而视杆细胞则专门用于夜视。在白天，人类能够感知颜色。这是因为有三种不同类型的视锥细胞，每一种都接收不同的颜色光谱（蓝色、绿色和红色）。在夜间，人类的色彩感知相对受损。这项研究的重点是在不理想的条件下视锥细胞和视杆细胞是如何运作的；视杆细胞和视锥细胞同时探测到光，但两个探测器都没有达到最佳状态。这样的光照条件可以与黎明或黄昏时的光照条件相媲美。这项研究的原因是，多年来，人们一直认为视杆细胞对我们感知颜色的能力没有贡献，即使在视杆细胞和视锥细胞都能探测到光的情况下也是如此。现在我们知道，视杆细胞改变了对颜色的感知，所以在白天看到的物体的颜色可能与在黎明或黄昏看到的颜色不一样。当使用颜色来传达信息时，但观看颜色的照明条件在变化，颜色提供的信息可能不准确。本研究的目的是确定在什么条件下出现颜色感知失败以及视觉系统如何补偿这些失败。本项目的研究成果可应用于彩色显示器的设计、彩色信息传播的有效性以及座舱和/或视频显示器的设计。

Processing of Chromatic Information in the Peripheral Retina There are two types of light detectors in the human retina, rods and cones. Cones perform best in daylight conditions, whereas rods are specialized for night vision. In the daylight, humans are able to perceive color. This is because there are three different types of cones, each picking up on different spectrums of color (blue, green, and red). At night, human color perception is relatively impaired.This study focuses on how the cones and rods operate under less than ideal conditions; conditions where both rods and cones are detecting light at the same time but neither detector is operating at its best. Such lighting conditions would be comparable to those experienced at dawn or dusk. The reason for this study is that for many years it has been assumed that rods do not contribute to our ability to perceive color, even under conditions where both rods and cones are detecting the presence of light. It is now known that rods alter color perception, so the color of an object seen under daylight conditions may not be the same as the color seen at dawn or dusk. When color is used to convey information, but lighting conditions under which the color is viewed are changing, the information provided by color may not be accurate. The goal of this study is determine under what conditions failures in color perception arise and how the visual system may compensate for these failures. The results from this project may be applied to the design of color monitors, the efficacy of color information dissemination, and the design of cockpit and/or video displays.